Healthy Behaviours and Abdominal Adiposity in Adolescents from Southern Italy

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of meeting health recommendations on diet and physical activity (having breakfast, eating fruit and vegetables, consumption of milk/yoghurt, performing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, limiting television watching) and to assess junk snack food consumption in adolescents from southern Italy. The association between healthy behaviours and abdominal adiposity was also examined.

Design: In a cross-sectional protocol, anthropometric data were measured by trained operators while other data were collected through a structured interview.

Setting: Three high schools in Naples, Italy.

Subjects: A sample of 478 students, aged 14-17 years, was studied.

Results: The proportion of adolescents who met each of the health recommendations varied: 55·4% had breakfast on ≥6 d/week; 2·9% ate ≥5 servings of fruit and vegetables/d; 1·9% had ≥3 servings of milk/yoghurt daily; 13·6% performed moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for ≥60 min/d; and 46·3% watched television for <2 h/d. More than 65% of adolescents consumed ≥1 serving of junk snack foods/d. Only 5% fulfilled at least three recommendations. Healthy habits tended to correlate with each other. As the number of health recommendations met decreased, the percentage of adolescents with high abdominal adiposity (waist-to-height ratio ≥0·5) increased. The trend was not significant when the proportion of overweight/obese adolescents was considered. Logistic regression analysis indicated that male gender and watching television for ≥2 h/d were independently associated with a higher waist-to-height ratio.

Conclusions: Most adolescents failed to meet the five health recommendations considered. Male gender and excessive television watching were associated with abdominal adiposity.